THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[June i, 1881. 
myself on neglected coffee in Ceylon. I was reading 
a report yesterday on coffee in Natal by a sugar 
planter who had gone in for it on a small scale, and 
in three years time from putting the plants in he 
got ^ cwt. an acre and the following year 9 cwts., 
then a short crop and abandonment following, although 
manure was easily obtainable, transport cheap, and 
labor moderately so. Then coffee is called a failure ; 
it is a disgrace when one sees fine trees abandoned for 
want of a little attention and experience. I pruned 
one of the abandoned trees at the farm near Pieter- 
maritzburg which I spoke of, and although it was 
only roughly done, yet when finished it looked nearly 
as well as some of the young trees in the best part 
of clearing. I am iu communication now with 
the M. L. C. for this county, and although my Ceylon 
experience was short, still I hope I shall be able to 
turn it to good account out here. 1 have only been 
down a few days aud expect to be running about 
from place to place for some time to come. 
By the time this reaches you jour crop will be all 
in, which I trust has been a favorable one and that 
you have plenty of good wood for a bumper next 
year 1881. How is your cacao getting on?" 
A third letter, dated 19fch January 1881, from 
Verulam, County Victoria, .Natal, speaks of the war, 
and the consequent rise of provisions. The writer 
then proceeds :— 
"What will be the outcome of all this it is im- 
possible to say, but added to all this there has been 
a regular plague of caterpillars along the coast, 
which has destroyed hundred of acres of sugar-cane 
and mealies. Cheerful state of thingsfor a young colony ! 
" As far as regards coffee, I took the tour I mentioned 
in my last letter and will now give you an account 
of what I saw and heard. I started from this on 
the 20th December and the following day I came to 
the first under cultivation. It was only a small 
place of about 25 acres, and the proprietor was a 
man of a peculiar temper and was not altogether 
anxious to give me any information. However, I 
learnt from him that he was merely experimenting 
with coffee; although he had several failures, he 
intended to try and find out some remedy. Amongst 
some of the fields,; (which I may tell you were all 
in blocks of from three to five acres with wind belts 
of bamboo and mulberry) I saw trees from five to 
Bix years old bearing an average crop of from 8 to 
10 cwt. an acre, but these trees were not pruned or 
topped. He informed me that these trees at three 
years old gave a crop of 4 cwt. an acre, and every 
year up to the present had given a good return, and 
tbat he could not grumble and that is something to 
hear from a man out here, where nine out of ten 
men are in a perpetual state of discontent. Before 
leaving this field he said he expected to see it all 
die out next year, as it always did, from what cause 
he could not say, but in my own humble opinion it 
was simple overbearing and inattention and lack of 
manure that killed the trees. However, I was silent on 
the subject. The next field this interesting individual 
took me to was one he was experimenting on. It 
was about 7 years old, and the trees he informed me 
were fast clying out, so he thought that, by sawing off 
every primary and applying a little manure in the 
shape of some bog soil and shells from the beach it 
might have the desired effect ; and really I was sur- 
prised to see the effects on Ihe bare poles, which had 
shot out new primaries, &c, in all directions and 
looked very much like coming into bearing again, 
but it is impossible to say whether the experiment 
will repay him for his trouble. The aspect of the 
plantation was N. W., about five miles from the sea, 
and the soil a loose loam. If the proprietor had been 
a decent sort of a man he would no doubt have 
given me further particulars aud encouragement. How- I 
ever, he finished up by saying he would not advise 
anyone to go in for coffee, so we parted. The next 
estate I visited was , the superintendent of which 
was , formerly the possessor of an estat- in 
— ; , and who knew and all 
districts well. Possibly you may have heard his name, 
but it is 39 years since he first went to Ceylon and 
has left it now some 20 years. Poor fellow, he is 
getting on in years and is somewhat reduced in cir- 
cumstances. He is not fond of Natal and holds a 
very poor opinion of coffee planting in general here, 
and there he is right, I fancy. He has no coffee 
under cultivation, but goes in for mealies and arrow- 
root. The next estate 1 visited was, belonging to the 
Natal Land and Cultivation Company, which holds much 
the same position here as the Ceylon Company, Ltd., 
used to do with you. I was very much pleased with 
what I saw here, but the system 0 f cultivation carried 
on was somewhat different' to Ceylon. They have 700 
acres altogether in cultival ,on : coffee, tobacco, and 
mealies. Coffee is planted here in fields of from 5 to 
10 acre blocks, with wind belts of bananas (bamboos 
are not approved of). Mealies and tobacco are planted 
between the rows of coffee. The plants and trees 
which I saw looked very healthy and those fields in 
bearing were looking A 1. The superintendent ex- 
pects to get an average crop of 8 to 10 cwt. all over. 
Here they only allow the trees to grow to 8 years, 
after which they root them up and put in fresh 
plants. On my enquiry what the cost of cultivation 
was per acre, the superintendent said he could not 
tell me, as money was no object and as it was the 
Company's show estate, when money was wanted it 
came. This does not give a private individual much 
idea of what his outlay will be before he gets a return. 
After leaving , I went to estate near 
— . This place belongs to the same Company 
and the same system of cultivation is carried on, and 
in all cases the superintendent have gained what ex- 
perience they have in this colony, and don't seem 
to care to listen to what others have to say on the 
subject. However, I am quite satisfied that coffee can 
be grown in Natal and be remunerative for a certain 
period, but as to cost of cultivation I cannot say 
anything." 
The following is the paper referred to in the second 
letter : — 
The Failure of Coffee Planting in Natal.— Mr. 
Crowder, M. L. C, having brought before the House 
his notice requesting a commission to inquire into 
the above, and as I have informed the hon. members, 
that X am quite willing to give evidence thereon, I 
think the general public will not be displeased if one 
of the oldest planters lays before them briefly, through 
the medium of your valuable columns, his experiences 
in coffee planting, leaving your readers to judge for 
themselves whether the experiment is worth repeating. 
In the year 1860, on the Red Hill estate, I pro« 
duced balf-a-ton of marketable coffee : in '61 two, in 
'62 four, and in '63 thirteen tons. Mr. Middleton, 
on the Snaresbrook estate, was in advance of me as 
regards quantity, until 1863 when my crop exceeded 
his. By this time, Mr. M. and myself were favored 
with many visitors and intending planters anxious for 
information on the culture of coffee, and preparation 
of the berry for market. 
Our principal guide was ". ; 01d Laborie's coffee 
Planter of St. Domingo." By following his instructions 
the foregoing large crops were obtained from a very 
small acreage, and coffee planting in Natal proved the 
most lucrative branch of coast enterprise. To be as 
brief as possible, a few years after the success of the 
enterprise was though to be almost beyond doubts. 
A disease appeared amongst the trees, causing the 
branches to die off at the joints ; this disease seemed 
to encourage the borer, and so destructive did this 
